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Denb78 and I are in complete agreement on this one. Those are the same three very small coco palms living in sheltered areas. They don't compare to many I have seen in Fort Pierce, Jupiter, Melbourne or St. Pete that were huge in comparison. Until I see pics of 25 feet tall coco palms laden with coconuts I won't believe. Maybe I'll have to go there myself and check. I think you are nitpicking temps between SPI and St. Pete. The std deviation is lower in St. Pete than SPI, meaning S. Texas goes further below the avg lows than Fl. St. Pete is warmer than S. Texas.
Do you not see the crispy Coconut Palms in St. Petersburg above?
This map and the 1990 USDA zone map both show the two areas in the same zone so their average winter absolute lows (long term) must be within 5 degrees of each other, probably much closer. The Arbor Day Foundation
There aren't any more Coconut pictures on the web, but all of these trees are rated by the USDA as "Zone 10" plants, all of these plants will die or be severely damaged below 28-30F.
Huge Ficus sp. (Rubber Trees) http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index....1&#entry268655
Delonix regia (Royal Poinciana) is a very common tree in Cameron County http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1280&bih=685
A row of mature Royal Palms http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index....pic=26529&st=0
I'd like to see the last time St. Pete had a high temperature of 32F let alone a low temperature below 32F. That pic of the "fried" coco palms in St. Pete were probably far from the coast as well as look fairly small and exposed.
EDIT: This is how coconut palms SHOULD look in a place where they are truly hardy
I'd like to see the last time St. Pete had a high temperature of 32F let alone a low temperature below 32F. That pic of the "fried" coco palms in St. Pete were probably far from the coast as well as look fairly small and exposed.
EDIT: This is how coconut palms SHOULD look in a place where they are truly hardy
St. Petersburg Airport, Florida
2010: 30F(January)
2003: 28F(January)
1996: 27F(February)
South Padre Island, Texas
2011: 28F(February)
2010: 32F(January)
1996: 30F(December)
Lowest for 1971-2000
St. Petersburg
Jan: 28F
Feb: 27F
Dec: 24F
South Padre (Port Isabel Airport)
Jan: 28F
Jan: 28F
Dec: 17F (not sure what the island saw)
"That pic of the "fried" coco palms in St. Pete were probably far from the coast as well as look fairly small and exposed."
If Coconut Palms are "truly" hardy in an area, it shouldn't matter that their young or exposed right? You can give St. Petersburg those excuses but not South Padre , and those Coconut Palms are definitely somewhere on the peninsula. By your definition, nowhere on the U.S. mainland is there an area that can "truly" grow Coconut Palms, even the Upper Keys had problems with newly transplanted Coconut Palms last year.
You completely by-passed the fact that SPI just this past winter had a day that did not go above 32F all day long. Has that ever happened in St. Pete?
And you seem to be making our point by continually stating that they aren't viable in St. Pete either. Ok, so maybe they aren't viable in St. Pete just as they are not long term viable in SPI. Every ten years or so they will die. Hence you never see any tall ones.
People are always trying to push the envelope with trees and plants. People are always trying to go coco palms in Orlando,usually to no avail. Same with SPI. If they were successful, many of the homeowners there would grow them cause they say "tropical" like nothing else.
If I don't see em there, they can't grow em. I think this thread should die now, just like the couple of coco palms on SPI that died this past winter with a day below 32F.
Funny that I was just on a palm growing website and saw the question listed below from someone in S. Texas. So why would a person from the "southern coastal tip of Texas" ask this question? Answer is that the Royal Palm which you provided a pic of, is hardier than a coco palm. They will grow as far north as Daytona and Jacksonville. I'm more convinced now that coco palms can't grow there. Why else would you see such large Royal Palms, but very short and very few coco palms?
"Hardier substitutes for coconut palm?
I don't know if any palm could match the beauty of the coconut palm, but for those that live in zones where they cannot grow, what are some palms that could be used to mimic its form and/or foliage? The zone range I'm thinking of is 9b to 10a, the coastal southern tip of Texas. I was browsing some possibilities: "
I read that as far back as 1893 Guangzhou, just inside the Tropic in China, experienced a snowfall. It is notable that in China winter temperatures reach to freezing at a lower latitude (34˚N at Zhengzhou) than they do in the United States, so one might guess sea-level frost would extend further south. However, though I can confess to experiencing foggy and quite cool wether visiting Taipei and Hong Kong during the Australian summer (actually I prefer it to the very hot weather of the Australian summer), I have never heard of frosts there.
I wonder why though. Spend the money on species native to the area. They are not meant to grow there. This happens to Texas every few years. Look at the all time low for Brownsville. I think it is something like 12 F. That is not tropical. With these temps, I wouldn't even classify it as subtropical. Maybe warm temperate.
Climate zones are based on averages, unfortunately, so your 'warm temperate' zone isn't accurate. It is sub-tropical. Tropical is anything that technically does not get to 32F, although most tropical plants begin to have issues around 45F.
It would be nice if people would plant palms, trees, and shrubs based very strictly on their growing zones and on historic lows. I think the coconut palm is already overplanted in areas it simply shouldn't be. I'd rather not see any coconut palms than see ones that look really ratty or are clearly struggling. It's just sad. I'm just happy to see that most of the ones in Miami Beach recovered well after that brutal arctic blast in December 2010. The ones in Hawaii look soooo healthy! Coconut palms near or on the equator look amazing, especially in areas with steady rainfall and little-to-no yearly temperature variation like Singapore.
It would be nice if people would plant palms, trees, and shrubs based very strictly on their growing zones and on historic lows. I think the coconut palm is already overplanted in areas it simply shouldn't be. I'd rather not see any coconut palms than see ones that look really ratty or are clearly struggling. It's just sad. I'm just happy to see that most of the ones in Miami Beach recovered well after that brutal arctic blast in December 2010. The ones in Hawaii look soooo healthy! Coconut palms near or on the equator look amazing, especially in areas with steady rainfall and little-to-no yearly temperature variation like Singapore.
It's so pervasive in practically every single corner of the tropical world that I'm surprised that people from the mid-latitudes still consider coconut palms to be exotic. To me, coconut palms are about as exotic looking as a banana bush
It's so pervasive in practically every single corner of the tropical world that I'm surprised that people from the mid-latitudes still consider coconut palms to be exotic. To me, coconut palms are about as exotic looking as a banana bush
From your earliest memory you saw these trees all around your home. We up here in the northlands did not. When I first learned about them in grade school I was hooked. They are without a doubt the one tree that says "tropical" more than any other, at least to me.
When healthy they are physically beautiful as well. They provide an incredible amount of benefits with the fruit they produce. You probably feel the same way about coconut palms as I do about Sycamore trees. I think they are one of the ugliest trees with all that bark peeling off. I don't even give them a second glance as I was surrounded by them growing up.
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You can give St. Petersburg those excuses but not South Padre 
